messy, messy, messy

My son’s 4th birthday was celebrated this past weekend…we had a great time, but I think we are all still recovering!

When we asked our favorite little guy what he wanted for his party he proclaimed over and over and over again, ‘I want to get messy!’ Ask, and ye shall receive.

We had a tiny party, so we made the invitations. Gram made a ‘messy’ envelope for each of his friends.

Our primary challenge was to pull off a messy party in November. We didn’t want his guests shivering their way through the day, nor did we want that kind of mess in our house. The weather was something we couldn’t control. I was determined, however, that we would have only ‘dry’ messy activities so our guests wouldn’t be cold and wet. In the end, we completely lucked out by getting a 68 degree day! Despite the unseasonably warm day, it was still a good idea that none of the festivities involved water, shaving cream, or paint, since a little cool air came through at the very end of the party.

So this was our plan… we kept the guest list really small. Only his playgroup and specifically-requested buddies made the cut, since parents would not be accompanying them. (I think making the guest list is the hardest part! I hate leaving anyone out). We asked our guests to bring goggles and wear clothes they didn’t mind messing up.  When they arrived, we gave everyone a yellow rain coat that I bought at the dollar store. G was thrilled since his favorite color is yellow. Lucky me- that was the only color they had.

First up was the flour fight. We assigned a bucket filled with flour to each guest. Then they went to town.

My husband decided at the last minute he really wanted to create a ‘flour storm’ using our blower. I wasn’t so sure that the kids would love having flour blown at them full-speed. Some loved it, some did not. But it was easy for the ones who weren’t into it to escape quickly to another part of the yard. It definitely made for some really neat pictures, I will say!

We went from flour-fighting to confetti-filled egg cracking. The kids enjoyed getting us (my husband and I) more than getting each other. I’m still nursing a headache from all of the knocks on the head… I might give the little ones a lesson in less-aggressive egg cracking next time!

Next up we had powdered donuts-on-a-string. The point of the game is to keep your hands behind your back while trying to bite the donut. It’s a lot harder than it looks, and it might have been a little advanced for this age group. Most of them didn’t have the willpower to keep their hands away, so it didn’t take long before the donuts were ripped off the strings and ingested as fast as possible.

The kids were pretty thirsty after that, so we made a pit stop for snacks and drinks. I provided some healthy options, but you can guess how many of the apples and clementines were eaten! (Maybe one?)

A word of advice, while I’m thinking about it. These kids could have blown through all 9 activities in about 30 minutes. We learned that the hard way last year. This year we made a much more conscious effort to pace the party, take lots of breaks, and if the kids showed interest in something else for awhile- we let them do it before redirecting the group to the next thing. This helped the party go much more smoothly. This was also a great age group to work with (all of them were close to 4). The kids were polite to us and each other, and there were very few meltdowns or tears. So if you’re considering a no-parent party, I think this is definitely the year you can start doing it  (last year was a bit more challenging!). We also sent the younger sister off with a babysitter for her own fun for two hours. That was also a huge help in being able to run things.

But I digress. From snacks we went to silly-string-on-the-zipline. Only about half of the kids wanted to be ‘silly stringed’. We let each child have at least one turn on the zipline- those who wanted the silly string got it, those who didn’t, didn’t. Afterwards, the kids who had the motor skills to operate the silly string can got into a spraying contest. I think in another year they would have all been able to do it easily, but there were a few who were more challenged to get the spray nozzle to work. We helped those ones so they could join in the fun.

Next stop : the dirt pit. We filled a baby pool with a couple of bags of dirt, burying prizes inside snack-sized ziploc bags. We made sure there were plenty of prizes (that were the exact same) so no one felt short-changed. I tried to make the prizes primarily non-sugar treats, since they would be getting their fill between all the donuts. Still, they wanted to rip into the candy prizes asap. Everyone had to wipe their hands down before they were allowed to eat anything since their hands were fairly disgusting! (Note: if you have a messy party, make sure to stack wet wipes all over the party site! I was so glad I remembered that before the party started).

By this time, our driveway had become a toxic mess of flour and dirt! Yep, this is our actual driveway (below).

At this point the kids decided to dump out the dirt and cover my husband in anything they could find…dirt, flour, etcetera. He was a very good sport!

Besides having a messy party, Gram’s only other request was to have lollipops and donuts. He loves sugar! What can I say, he takes after his mom. So we created a surprise ball full of lollipops. (I’m working on a project that involves this so I will share a step by step tutorial soon).

I had planned on giving out glow sticks at this time, but realized I had not included my own kids in the glow-stick-head-count, and wasn’t about to create a scene that would involve the birthday boy melting down for lack of one! I silently cursed myself for giving our kids the last of the leftover Halloween ones the night before. So I decided to hand them out as party favors and discreetly handed them to the parents as the little ones departed.

So we skipped right over to birthday cake. My son had requested a donut cake. We have a great local place in town called the Donut Den that makes a ‘Texas doughnut.’ It’s about 16 inches in diameter (I’m guessing) and it tastes so, so good. But it isn’t pretty and didn’t turn out as I had envisioned it. It was flat on top (instead of rounded like a traditional donut). I had asked for the standard ‘rainbow sprinkles’ to be put on top but instead they put on fall leaf-shaped confetti sprinkles. So we made a huge mound of donut holes on top and attempted to cover the ugly sprinkles with powdered sugar. I was pretty happy with the result- this was a messy party, after all, so I was not looking for perfection in the least bit!

By this point, the kids needed a serious break so they peacefully chowed down on giant pieces of doughnut cake. I know more than one went back for seconds, including the birthday boy himself, who knew he had the liberty to get away with it at his own party. (But man, I paid for that second piece of doughnut cake that night- he was sugar crazy!)

Needless to say, our guy had a GREAT time. We couldn’t have rung in his 4th year in a better way!

If you’ve got the yard and weather for a messy party, I would highly recommend having one! This party was easy and fairly inexpensive. And I gotta say, it was so nice to walk into our *clean* house afterwards. Though our yard was another story…

unicorn rainbow party

Inventive mom Elaina created a unicorn/rainbow party for her daughter’s 5th birthday. Some really clever ideas in this party, including: party hats turned into ‘unicorn horns,’ rainbow sandwiches (bagels cut in half), and a rainbow fruit platter. More at .

everything’s coming up…rainbows!

Yes, another rainbow party. But when they are that good I can’t help but share! This is a treasure from Little. Lovely. I especially like the milk glasses rimmed with rainbow sprinkles and I want more pictures of that rainbow party table in the corner festooned with garlands and balloons!

rainbows, rainbows, everywhere!

For some reason rainbow parties have become all the rage in the past couple of weeks. Feast your eyes on another lovely one from Dwelling on the Positive. This creative mom transformed her garage into a stylish party den and made ‘stained glass’ jello. More here.

art party

Supermom Katie did not overlook any detail for Olivia’s art-themed 2nd birthday. She and her mom created aprons for all the little artists, made a coloring sheet in the birthday girl’s likeness, and baked a rainbow layer cake (all the rage these days!). Way to go, Katie!

rainbows + unicorns

As a little girl, this might have been the birthday party of my dreams. Love all the rainbow + unicorn details in this party from Juicy Bits.

wrap me in rainbows 6th birthday

Alannah Rose has turned out yet another birthday party stunner! If you’ve got a rainbow-loving gal in your life, you won’t want to miss this party.

rainbows + monsters

Cute ‘rainbows + monsters’ birthday from mom Sara Moe.

rainbow ruffle cake

Every girl’s dream…a rainbow ruffle cake! From Stephanie Burget.

homespun perfection.

I tell you, every time I see a ‘simple’ at-home birthday party, I fall in love. Particularly a well-designed small homespun birthday. In graduate school, we were sometimes told to KISS a design (keep it simple, stupid!). Got to remember that applies to parties, too. Feast your eyes upon these two beauties.

The first, a rainbow unicorn birthday from Joslyn at Simple Lovely:

And then a 3rd birthday from Jordan at Oh Happy Day. Love! That color palette is perfection.

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